Dear Council members,
As a homeowner on the 1000 block of Ringwood Avenue, between Bay Rd and Van Buren, I am writing in support of placing all-way stop signs at the Ringwood/Van Buren intersection, at the base of the pedestrian footbridge.
Over the years we have witnessed countless near misses between bikers, pedestrians and cars. Unfortunately, we have also seen accidents, most recently a month ago when a student bicyclist was hit by a car. Cars speed down Van Buren and rarely slow to observe people entering or exiting the footbridge on bike or foot. By placing stop signs on Van Buren going both north and south, and a stop sign exiting the footbridge, you will not only add parity to the safety measures on the opposite side of the footbridge, but you will significantly decrease the number of accidents this intersection has logged over the years.
In addition, the 1000 block of Ringwood has no less than 30 school-aged children who actively walk, bike and play. By forcing drivers to stop at this intersection, we hope it will encourage the high volume of drivers speeding down Van Buren, turning left onto Ringwood to cut through Bay Rd traffic, to slow down. While we would like to see more safety measures put into place on the 1000 block of Ringwood to mitigate this particular issue, addressing the accident prone intersection of Van Buren and Ringwood is a great start.
Thank you for prioritizing the safety of our neighborhood and those that traverse through for work or play.
Best,
Julie Hartstein
